The Choice
by TheFirstPkmn
Summary: Two criminal pokes give up their life treasures and go on to rebuild their past; accompanied by a policeman poke. If you know competitive pkmn, this should eat at you :3 Plz review x3!
1. Banded

**Intro: Banded**

(Luxray)

Meet me.  
>My name is Frenzy, and I am a Luxray.<br>And I take pride in my job as a wallbreaker.  
>Meaning that I break walls, buildings,<p>

And hearts.

The area was free from any form of threat. Lots of guard Raticates, no problem, lots of Sashed Watchongs, no problem. This was going to be a piece of cake.

The Communicator rang and I picked it up.

"Hey."  
>"Hey, Frenzy. Ready?"<br>"Yeah, sure. But Commander…"  
>"Yeah?"<br>"Do you think that I…if I…"  
>"Don't say it."<br>"Mmm. Got it."

I dropped the Communicator back in my little pouch, and resumed my cover in the bushes.

Three…Two…One…  
>And Leap.<p>

I immediately rushed out of the bushes and started running. The first line of defense came up; it was a bunch of weak Raticates.

"G-g-get outtt of here!"  
>"…Too scared?"<p>

I lifted up my front-left paw, and let the Choice Band reflect light. Right into the faces of the Raticates.

"You get out."

And they all scattered. But this was a common sight.

I kept running, and the second defense jumped in my way. A pack of Watchogs.

"Stay back."  
>"Wow, you're much more confident."<br>"Everyone! Hypnosis!"

The Watchogs shot a telepathic beam that was supposed to put me to sleep. But considering how closely packed they were, I decided to sit down. I watched as the ill-trained fools shot each other with an attack some of them didn't even know how to use. It was a truly pathetic sight, and I had to augment it by grabbing a Liechi Berry hanging on a little plant that I had trampled, and slowly chewing it.

Tasted good.

All the Watchogs had fallen asleep in a matter of seconds.

Then, knowing that the defenses were all gone, I slowly walked into my treasure cove: A little pine hut. There, my old friend resided. I wanted to play with her a little.

I slowly strolled into the pine hut. And I was blocked. By a pink blob.  
>I bounced off, and took a look. It was a Blissey.<p>

"Frenzy. You again."  
>"Sup!"<br>"This time, you're not going to get past me!"  
>"Oh. Okay."<br>"Thunder Wave!"

Bliss shot a little spark at me, and I very lithely sidestepped the attack.

"Come at me."  
>"Rgghh…"<p>

Blissey stared into my eyes, and I did a little swagger to show that she was doing absolutely nothing.

"Toxic!"

Blissey inhaled deeply and exhaled huge clouds of purple smoke.

"Okay! That's it! Superpower!"

I didn't want to stall anymore; this was too easy.  
>I channeled all my energy to my frontal paws, and then to my front-right paw.<p>

'Hyaarrgghh!"

"Whatever that meant, I assume it's bad."

I smashed the Bliss mercilessly, right in the middle of the egg thing. It felt like sponge. Well, so much for that extra experience myth.

Blissey was flung right into the pine hut, and she went out from the other side. As she flew right through, I stepped in. This was going to get furry. Not literally, though. That would be gross.

I stepped in like a boss.

"Frenzy…I knew it."  
>"Yep! It's…me…"<p>

I slumped to one of the pillars, a little drained from the Superpower.

"Guess it's up to me."  
>"I can spam my weakest attack at it's weakest and still beat you. You'd better not."<br>"Well, if you took off your band, you can't."  
>"But the band is my heart and soul. It is…"<p>

I looked away for a while.

"…making me…c- no, nothing!"

Togekiss took to the sky.

"Let's get this started! Aura Sphere!"

I was ready to take in the Aura Sphere like nothing, but suddenly I didn't feel like trolling anymore. I just wanted to finish her off.

'Superpower…"

I jumped up and smashed Togekiss down, almost finishing her up.

"Arrgghh! …please…don't touch my village…not again…"  
>"Lock the doors."<p>

I could feel my heart sink, and I could feel Togekiss' heart sink.

"No…NO! PLEASE!"  
>"NOW! …please…"<p>

She slowly went over and bolted the doors.

"Tie yourself to the door."

Togekiss did it.

I walked towards Togekiss' workdesk, and took out a metal canister from the drawers.

"No…you can't do this again…for my people…please don't…no…"  
>"Shut up!"<p>

I grabbed a little screwdriver and pierced a hole in the thing.

"Hey Togekiss…"  
>"What?"<br>"What happens when you…t-t…t…nothing."  
>"Hrmph."<p>

I went over to the fireplace and scooped up some Will-o-wisp from the residual heat. You know, in a Moltres flame, there would always be some blue fire as residue when combustion took place. That was how portable Will-o was made. Also made Moltres a millionaire.

"Gal, is it…possible…to…t-too…urgh."

Suddenly, Togekiss was filled with compassion.

"Hey man, just let it out…I know you're troubled…"  
>"Can I actually bec-come…a…a…well…*sighs*…this is hard…"<p>

I found some Mulch nearby, and since it was pretty flammable, it would do. I stuffed the brown stuff in the canister.

"Togekiss…why is this so hard?"  
>"It's just your conscience bothering you…maybe you're not made to do this."<p>

I sealed the hole. The bomb was ready.

"But why did I get the Band…? It's not an item you can just buy anywhere, it's an item that Arceus enchanted!"  
>"…You'll find out, I guess."<p>

Togekiss gave me a nice smile, and I really wish that I could receive that some other day again. But right now, it was my job that I had to do. I flung the bomb to a random corner.

"Hey Frenzy, right?"  
>"Yeah."<br>"You know it's all about the choice you make."  
>"Huh…?"<br>"You know, your Band lets you select one move every battle and only one move, right?"  
>"…How does that comply…?"<p>

She half-closed her eyes.

"With the Band you get more power if you make the right choice. Just like in life; you've got one choice to make. If you make it right, you win."

I smiled.

"Yeah. You're right- oh Muk. The bomb! Togekiss! Run!"

I just realized that the bomb was detonating in three seconds.

"I'm stuck! Help!"  
>"Superpower!"<p>

Three…

I smashed the door with all my strength, and it flew with Togekiss still mounted to it.

Two…

With all the speed I could pull up, I dashed straight to the corner where I dropped the bomb. Seeing that it had already expanded and was red-hot, I decided to help with something.

I jumped on it and smashed it.

One.

I smiled; I knew that this was the right choice.

Zero.

* * *

><p>I felt the (decreased amount of) heat course through my body. But I was happy. I was truly happy. I didn't know why; I had never felt so happy in my life before. It didn't hurt anymore; I felt powerful.<p>

The explosion had ended in a matter of seconds, and I stood up, realizing that I had taken quite a blow from that, but the house hadn't. Only one corner was charred.

Time to face the music as usual.

I walked out, and people were already there, waiting to do something to me.

But what mattered most was this Happiny. She and her fellow Happinies (Don't pronounce that) were crowding around the severly injured Bliss. They were trying to make sure she was okay.

"Mother! Please!"  
>"I'm…fine…"<p>

I walked over to her.

"Oh my Arceus…please…"  
>"You!"<p>

The bold little Happiny stood up.

"You happy now? Look at what you did!"  
>"Don't…"<p>

I heard the Communicator ring.

"Commander?"  
>"Good job! I heard it happen!"<br>"Hey…"  
>"What?"<br>"As usual. Keep your interest. And donate the rest."  
>"Why don't you not donate for once?"<p>

I paused.

"Tell ya what. Keep all the money. I don't need no Mukking money for this. If you feel like it, donate. Whatever. Over."

I electrocuted the Communicator under my grasp.

Then I returned to the Happiny.

"Look…I hate to say this…"  
>"Get off! You're just a bully! Now get out of here!"<p>

Even a Happiny had felt the brunt of me. This wasn't right.

I walked over to Togekiss- she had just been unlatched from the door.

"Hey."  
>"Hey Frenzy…why did you?"<br>"I made the right choice. And I'm gonna make sure that I'm gonna do it again."  
>"Heh, that's right."<p>

I looked down on my right paw.

"I've been doing this for too long…"

And I strapped off the Choice Band.

"I can make better choices than this."

I gave the Band to Togekiss.

"But…you…"  
>"You deserve it more than me."<br>"I'm not a physical attacker…"  
>"But you know how to make choices. I respect that."<p>

Togekiss smiled again.

"Now for my question…"  
>"The one you kept trying to ask? Sure…"<p>

"What happens when you turn in to the cops?"


	2. Scarfed

**Intro: Scarfed**

(Glaceon)

Meet me.  
>My name is Plutonium, I'm a Glaceon, and I'm a revenge killer.<br>Which isn't literally what it says…but whatever. I like how it goes.

7a.m., waking up in da morning.  
>Gotta pick up an instant call.<p>

(Kay, that was a bad allusion)

I picked up the phone, and I could recognize the caller from the first word he spoke.

"Hey."  
>"Zekrom! It's you again! How's your morning?"<br>"Erm…"  
>"Did ya have breakfast yet?"<br>"Not important. Got another contract for you."  
>"Oh yeah. Hit me."<br>"I've been trying out hundreds of revenge killers, but you're the peak. And you're an NU, for Arceus' sake. I-"  
>"Whoawhoawhoawhoa. You made me blush. That's not too good. Just tell me the contract."<p>

Zekrom paused.

"I challenge you to go over to my brother and give him a hell of a time."  
>"Is that it?"<br>"Yeah. Hundred thousand for it."  
>"Deal."<br>"See ya."  
>"See ya!"<p>

He hung up before me.  
>I got out of my little shack and reviewed the world before me; lots of other yurts with their own revenge killers in there. I said hi to every other revenge killer in my little guild, and proceeded to the leader.<br>I slammed into the door without knocking or thinking. The guild leader, a Garchomp, looked at me.

"Hey Garchy! Mornin'!"

"Heya."  
>"Gotta go on another mission today."<br>"Okay…you'd succeed; you always succeed."

"Aww, shucks."  
>"You know, are you sure revenge killing is for you? I mean…you're a nice gal, and I feel bad for recruiting you…"<br>"But I'm happy with this job."  
>"Heh, you know that if you felt like it, you could destroy me in one hit, and I can't stop that."<p>

I laughed.

"Like I would try."

He had a good laugh too.

"You're the only poke I know that can be both demonic and angelic at the same time."  
>"Alright! Gonna go slay a Reshiram, see ya!"<br>"Wait, a Reshiram? Watch out for the-"

I slammed the door.

I went over to the Kirlia teleporter.

"Heya! Mornin'!"  
>"Ooh, hi, Plutonium."<p>

"Can you get me to Dragonspiral Tower? The **Black** one."  
>"Erm…for what?"<br>"Please…"  
>"Well, sure."<p>

And I was brought there. Right to the peak.  
>Reshiram was still asleep - that's what all legends do during their free time; they sleep.<p>

"Mornin'!"  
>"Morning…zzz…zz- huh?"<p>

Reshiram woke up.

"Quick and painless kill, or long and harsh one? Gonna let you choose."  
>"Aww, not again…another battler…Fusion Flare…"<p>

Reshiram lazily started absorbing heat from all corners of the room, and then it was crushed into this little ball.

"Take this…"

The big poke flung the hulking mass of fire at me. I stood still.  
>And I felt it slam.<p>

The attack enveloped me with fire. Loads and loads of heat attacked every single part of my body, and it started to create weird shockwaves of heat. Apparently I was supposed to be knocked out.

"Can I go back to sleep now…?"  
>"Aww, wanna sleep eh, you baby?"<p>

"What?"

Reshiram looked through the fire and saw that I was untouched.

"Sorry. But I'm fireproof. Ice Beam!"

I let loose a quick Ice Beam which slammed into Reshiram's chest. She fell backwards and onto her little throne at the back. Like anyone was actually going to sit on that.

"But…what…?"  
>"The more you waste time, the more I hit you…Ice Beam!"<p>

This time, I had the confidence to charge up some power before I fired. I let my body lose heat to the surroundings, and I channeled all the power I could obtain by this to the Ice Beam.

"Cold burns hotter than fire. Hyah!"  
>I fired the second, more powerful Ice Beam.<p>

Reshiram was hit square-on.

"Urgh…you're fast…"  
>"I'm Scarfed~~~"<br>"But this isn't over."  
>"Okaayy…Hit me."<br>"Blue Flare!"  
>"What?"<p>

Blue Flare. Oh no. Never heard of that before.  
>Reshiram let her body heat take the stage this time; her tail lit up strongly and a blue fireball appeared at her mouth. This was bad.<p>

"Wait…no…don't! Please! PLEASE!"  
>"Get flared!"<p>

The blue fireball was sent flying towards me.

"NO! NO! NOOOO! NOO- wait, what?"

I looked at the blue fireball that was now looking into my eyes.  
>I got down on my knees.<p>

"No…please *sniff* dispel it…p-please…"  
>"Are you crying?"<br>"What? No…*sniff*"

The blue fireball was dispelled. I felt much better now.

"Aww…thanks…but why?"  
>"You're fireproof right? Why are you so scared…?"<p>

The huge beast suddenly transformed into…a Mew.

"Oh my Arceus no. Holy Tauros-crap no!"

I got down on my knees.

"Please forgive me! I never meant to do anything like this…please!"

Mew raised an eyebrow…or something like that.

"Huh?"  
>"No…I couldn't have just attacked a Mew…are you hurt? Please say you're not hurt!"<br>"Wait…why do you care so much?"  
>"I wasn't supposed to attack you! Where's Reshiram?"<br>"Oh, she's busy trapping Zekrom in a tomb of Ferrothorns. Just a little punishment for hiring a revenge killer. Nothing to worry about."

I felt so vulnerable. It wasn't possible. I would never attack a Mew. Never. What had I done…?

"Mew…please…forgive me…"  
>"Aww, stop crying! You're much better than that!"<br>"Rrgh…no…I couldn't have…"

"Hey Plutonium. Let's just talk."  
>"…what?"<br>"Yeah, let's talk."

So a minute or so later I find myself sitting next to Mew.

"So, let's start with the battle. Why were you so confident with the F-Flare, but when the Blue Flare came you were like getting freaked out?"  
>"…It's…a secret."<p>

Mew stared into me.

"I'm psychic."  
>"…cheater…"<p>

"But nevermind, if you really wanna keep a secret that bad, it's fine! I won't see it."

"Please…don't change the subject…"

Mew looked at me.

"I bet you're really down now. But hey, you've still got some good in you."  
>"Really...?"<br>"Ever thought of why you revenge kill?"  
>"Well…I need the mo-"<p>

I looked into Mew. Psychic. Crap.

"It's adrenaline! I can't bloody stop it! You won't…understand…"

I felt another tear trickle down. Usually I'd try to maintain an image, but right now it didn't matter anymore. I had just attacked a Mew.

"C'mon…maybe you should try…giving it up?"  
>"Oh I've tried! Never worked…all my friends are in the guild; I can't turn on them…"<p>

Mew smiled and flew around me in circles.

"Maybe you should make the choice. Make it right and you've got it right!"  
>"It's no use…"<br>"Heh, you're the only crook I see that can be demonic and angelic at the same time…but your name…eww."

I think I heard that a few times before.

"But…what can I…*sniff* …urgh, sorry."  
>"Change it. Plutonium sounds like you're going to send everyone else to oblivion…"<p>

I thought about it. I sucked up the last tear.

"Heh."  
>"Oh my! You laughed!"<br>"Smirked."  
>"Whateva."<p>

Feeling much better right now, I decided to give a little answer to Mew's statement.

"Well, if Plutonium hints demonic, then what hints angelic?"  
>"Ethereal."<br>"I'm sorry, what?"  
>"Ethereal."<p>

I laughed.

"That name sucks."  
>"Better than whatever you can think of. Just remember to show your more…ethereal side."<p>

Mew conveniently teleported away.

I thought about that.  
>Then I looked at myself.<p>

Yeah, maybe I do have some good in me. Maybe I can be that Ethereal.  
>But first, I've got to make sure I can give everything up. Everything.<p>

I undid my scarf and left it on the floor. Then I took a random stone off the ground, and carved into the wall:

"Reshiram, take this and have fun. I'll be back for it one day. Yours truly, Ethereal."


	3. Spec'd

**Intro: Spec'd**

(Typhlosion)

Heya peeps!  
>I'm a Typhlosion, and my name is Crimson. I know, a pretty stupid name, but that's what the writer came up with me in 2007 so I won't say anything.<br>I heard that the previous two chapters were about bad people. But I'm not a bad person. I'm a police guy and trust me; I'm not bad at it.

The Chief stepped onto his podium. Immediately, all the chat ceased and we all got to our positions.  
>He smiled, and went on with his usual greeting.<p>

"Good morning."  
>"Good morning, sir!"<p>

Now came the best part. The Chief turned on the mic really loud and started the morning cheers. Something like Mystery Dungeon; for those who played.

"What's our duty?"  
>"To serve and protect our citizens!"<p>

Part Two.  
>This was when I started to execute the plan.<p>

"Guyz, ARE YOU READY?"  
>"YEA!"<p>

The Chief stared at me.

"I'm the one that's supposed to be talking."  
>"Really? …Whoopz!"<p>

The hall was filled with laughter. The Chief just let it pass this time.

"WHAT'S RULE NUMBER THREE?"  
>"THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES! TOTAL CRAP! LET'S BE HONEST! SMILE AND YOU LOOK LIKE A RETARD!"<br>"…"

Chief's eye widened and he steeped down from his podium.

"WHO'S IDEA IS THIS?"

Everyone pointed at me. I rolled my eyes.

"You're just the best friends, guys."

The Chief walked towards me.

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE?"  
>"No, madam!"<p>

The entire hall was filled with laughter.

"CRIMSON!"  
>"It's 'Inspector' Crimson to you, nonsexual creep."<p>

The laughter doubled.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"  
>"You're a Magnezone! Which gender are you?"<p>

Okay, Chief was furious now.

"LOOK! YOU'RE SOME FAILED BATTLER TRYING TO KEEP AFLOAT! I'M A TRUE POLICEMAN! YOU'RE JUST A WEAK MAGIKARP TRYING TO BEAT A KYOGRE!"

Wow. So much for trying to bring some life into the place.

"TRUE…BUT MAGIKARP HAS SWIFT SWIM AND THAT MAKES IT FASTER THAN KYOGRE, …nonsexual creep!"

The hall doubled over with laughter once again.

"HEY EVERYONE! LET'S ALL CALL CHIEF NONSEXUAL CREEP FROM NOW ONWARDS! WHAT DO YOU SAY!"

The crowd cheered.

Chief moved away to his podium; and treated this like a normal day.

"OKAY! CARRY ON!"

So we carried on.

* * *

><p>As we walked out, I was surrounded by Privates. They were all dying from all that Tauros-crap I said up there and then some.<p>

"Good job, Inspector! I laughed until I almost died!"  
>"Heh; that's what you always say."<br>"Yeah…but today it was just the best! Just take out all the technical jokes and it'll be great! But nice counter to that Magikarp one!"  
>"Haha! I'll take that as a constructive criticism."<p>

Just then, I caught sight of a fellow Fire-type, Larvesta. She wasn't joining the fun. I walked over to her.

"Hey."

She looked up at me. And she put up this disgusted kind of look.

"Hey; what's with the badface?"  
>"Can you just be a little more serious during assemblies?"<br>"…what's the problem?"  
>"You're a high-rank officer; you should be setting a good example for us."<br>"But this is what I do! I mean, what's the point of becoming an officer without any form of fun?"  
>"…that's YOUR definition of an officer."<br>"Okay…I won't fight over this."  
>"…I'm going to get my rank-up soon. And I promise that you'll be out of the force in no time!"<br>"Well…okay…"

I watched Larvesta walk off.

Wow, what a nerd.  
>I wasn't too afraid of getting kicked out of the force; I mean I was an uber profiler. I could grab out all those answers like nothing.<p>

Oh well, time for my job.  
>I went up to my post, and my secretary was there before me as usual.<p>

"Heya!"  
>"Heya, bro!"<br>"Here are your documents for today."  
>"Thanks. Oh, and by the way…"<p>

I took out an envelope from my bag. Delibird received it, and immediately felt the weight of the envelope.

"This is for your hard work."  
>"Oh, thank you! Thank you! …but it's the second time this month."<br>"No problem."  
>"I just love working with you; you're nice and stuff like that…"<br>"Hey, don't say that."  
>"I just had to! Thanks a million times!"<p>

Then, the secretary Delibird ran off jumping for joy.

I smiled to myself, and flipped on my Specs. Then it was time to get to the documents. There were two; so today was going to be an tough day. But looking into the documents, I realized how wrong I was.

"Oh my gosh."

I walked into the interrogation room. Facing me were the two convicts. They were handcuffed to the back of the chair and their mouths were sealed.

"What's this?"  
>"It's just that the two are big baddies, Inspector."<br>"No; I'm just wondering why they're tied up so bad."  
>"They could attack you any moment."<p>

I looked into both of their eyes. Sure, they were long-term criminals, but there was no doubt that there was remorse in there.

"How am I going to ask questions like that?"  
>"Yes or no questions, Inspector."<p>

I gave the guard a "-.-" ish look. There was total silence for a few seconds.

"…Yes, Inspector!"

The guard Magnemite immediately took off everything.

Then, it left the room.

We gave one another blank stares. And if I let this go on, there would be no talking for the next few hours or so and that's horrible. So no way.

"Do you actually intend to talk, peeps?"

The two of them were, like, signaling to each other.

"So…"  
>"Heya…"<br>"Great! You guyz are not mute! Let's talk now."

I looked at the two of them.

"You guys…don't really intend to destroy anything anymore right?"  
>"Yeah. Neva. I swore it to Mew."<br>"Me too. I'm gonna go back and rebuild if I get the time."  
>"This fic is getting too perfect. But anyway you're going to face a crap-load of charges against you. That's not going to go down nice on your record. Or anything. So even if you wanted to do something, you'd be in jail for a while first."<p>

The Luxray quickly snapped in.  
>"What's the bail?"<br>"Huh?"

Bail. They wanted to go out and do weird stuff again. Wait, that's not right; they gave up their most precious items just to get to this police station, and now they were intending to go back. Nah, they couldn't be that shallow.

"Honestly."  
>"I'm guessing about seven digits."<br>"Kay…"

I stood up and flicked on the Specs.

"Well, see yo-"

Glaceon's eyes widened.  
>"Wait, you're a Choicer too? But-"<p>

Luxray capped her mouth.

"Shut up…let's be good, kay?"

She sighed.

"Right…fine then."

I looked at them.

"Well, Inspector Larvesta is gonna take you over from ehre; hope you have a great time!"

I stepped out of the room as Larvesta stepped in. She purposely bumped me hard, but failed and was thrown aside by the bouncing effect.  
>I went up to the control room where all the cameras were. Magnezone was waiting for me there.<p>

"SO HOW DID IT GO?"  
>"Great! Just that they were a little quiet, but they definitely wanna change!"<br>"OKAY, GOOD."

Magnezone came closer.

"YOU KNOW, I WISH YOU TOOK YOUR JOB MORE SERIOUSLY. YOU'RE PRETTY GOOD AT THIS."  
>"Sir I am taking my job pretty seriously."<br>"YES…BUT YOU'RE TOO MUCH OF A JOKER TO BE THE LEADER OF THE FORCE…"  
>"Meaning…?"<br>"LOOK I'M RETIRING."  
>"What? But Chief…"<p>

The Chief was retiring. Great. I was actually overjoyed. Yay for the ultimate pay rise. Yay for the ability to actually change some stuff. Yay for no more boring stuff!

"BUT VOLCARONA'S GONNA BE READDY FOR YOU. WATCH OUT."  
>"Volcarona…? Oh Arceus…"<br>"SHE EVOLVED JUST NOW IN THE ROOM WHEN SHE ATTACKED THE CRIMINALS."  
>"What? Attacked the criminials? But they…"<br>"THEY DIDN'T FIGHT BACK."

Just as he said that, Volcarona entered the room.

"Reporting, Chief!"  
>"YES. THERE SHE IS."<p>

Magnezone threw off his beret.

"WELL I GUESS I CAN TAKE OFF THESE WEIRD SOUND CARTRIDGES NOW…LET'S SEE…Okay done! See all of you!"

Magnezone dashed off.

Volcarona gave me a hard, long stare.

"I'm not gonna let you get the position. Battle tomorrow after the court trial."  
>"Gottat!"<p>

Volcarona walked off with a swagger.

"Does she always have to be such a grump?"


	4. Making The Choice

**Intro: Making The Choice**

(Luxray)

We appeared in court the next day.

While waiting for the Judge, Ethereal and I decided to prepare a little script.

"Okay, so…"  
>"The bail is ten million for each of us…how much money do you have?"<br>"…You first."  
>"Fine…a billion."<br>"Same here."

Great. The bail meant nothing. Everyone else wouldn't be convinced. Therefore, I decided to take this myself.

"Let me speak later, okay?"  
>"Okay."<p>

Judge Arceus entered, and we all rose (Arceus = Judgement :P).

"Alright, so today, we're going to run the two there on a trial."  
>"Your honour, that's already established. Why not run them on a Judgement?"<p>

We all looked at Crimson.

Whoops. He apparently had just talked back to the judge. Big trouble.  
>Arceus charged a Judgement up…and then it realized the situation and stopped.<br>He burst into laugher. And those overly formal people in the crowd had their heads hung down as if Arceus wasn't a good judge.

Which he wasn't too good, actually. Then again, no one wanted a Smeargle to be the Judge. (did anyone get the joke?)

"Haha! We're glad to have you on our force, Inspector!"  
>"Thank you, your Honour."<p>

Arceus turned back.

"Let's go back to real stuff. T-"  
>"Your Honour!"<p>

We all looked at Crimson again.

"Is it possible to let the defense speak first?"  
>"Defense? What's…"<p>

Arceus thought for a while.

"Oh! You mean the convicted! Okay! Speak, friends! Speak!"

At this point of time, half of the crowd facepalmed. I overheard someone say that "they wanted a new judge" but no one else knew Judgement…so there.  
>I went up to the mic.<p>

"Your honour, may I ask you a question?"  
>"Yes?"<br>"How much is the bail for the both of us?"

The entire crowd gasped.

"Erm…lemme see…"

Arceus flipped through the documents.

"Two hundred million. Or something like that. Bah, I'm too lazy to count the zeros, you get the point!"

The crowd laughed. They thought that we couldn't pay that.

"Good, because we got a billion each."  
>"Oh. Interesting."<p>

The crowd gasped.  
>Then I stepped down.<p>

Plutonium's turn.  
>She went up, and I left the rest to her.<p>

"Okay, so continuing from where he left off…we can pay this bail and there's no shi- oops, there's no stuff you can do about it. Yep!"

The crowd was muttery. Not too good.

"But hey, look, we've got money. We can do better stuff with the money than this. Really."

Still muttery.  
>I turned to Arceus.<p>

"Hey Arceus, can I change my name right now?"  
>"Sure."<br>"Change it to Ethereal."  
>"As in "angelic"?"<br>"Something I picked up, yeah."  
>"Sure, no problem. Your name is now Ethereal."<p>

The crowd facepalmed again.

"Right, so what'cha say if we take that money and go help everyone we've done stuff to?"

Sudden silence.

Arceus turned to the jury.

"This is your decision. If you object, raise your hands."

The jury was kinda made up of 6 Bronzongs and 6 Serperiors, so we would win either way. But we saw them nodding and doing all sorts of weird stuff to show consent. So Arceus decided to make the final decision here.

"Alright, it has been decided! Frenzy and Ethereal will go back and rebuild everything that they've destroyed!"

The jury couldn't clap.  
>Thank god the crowd could.<p>

Plutonium, sorry, Ethereal walked down and she was smiling so broadly it kinda reminded me of Togekiss.

"Good job there!"  
>"WOW IT WORKED! IT WORKED!"<p>

Ethereal pounced on me.  
>Crimson went crazy.<p>

"WOOT! TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS! QUICK!"

I heard camera snaps, but I didn't care. This was the best moment ever.  
>Then all of a sudden I remembered.<p>

"Your Honour, can I use the mic?"  
>"Sure."<p>

Arceus moved away from his judges' podium…which was not the original intention but who cared?  
>I went up and took a little glance.<p>

"Hey Blissey."

Six Blisseys looked at me.

"I'm talking to you. Yeah, you. The only one with Natural Cure."

THE Blissey looked at me.

"Hey. Good job on your trial."  
>"Is your daughter here? The Bold natured one?"<br>"No."  
>"Tell her I said thanks."<br>"What?"

I walked off the podium, and Arceus was like, "Thanks?"

The news spread like a wildfire. After a minute or so, every single Pokemon, even those in the forests, seas and all those stuffs knew about it. Even the people that didn't know us got to know about it. (By the way, in our world, we transmit messages using Psychic pokes, and that makes things ridiculously easy."

Ethereal and I walked out of the courtroom.

"So…what are we going to start with?"  
>"I say we should ask Crimson first…or at least treat him with something."<br>"Yeah, he helped us a lot."

Suddenly, we heard a soft voice from underneath.

"Heya, wanna buy some candy?"

We looked down and saw a Teddiursa. It cringed at the sight of us.

"Erm…"  
>"Don't worry; we're fine now."<br>"Oh. Do you wanna buy stuff?"

We looked at each other.

"Well, kindness begins somewhere."

Ethereal took the entire tray.

"Here, take this."

She handed over a hundred PokeDollars

"But…"  
>"Take it. Please."<p>

And then we dramatically walked away.  
>I looked at Ethereal.<p>

"What were you thinking?"  
>"I seriously don't know…wanna have a candy fest?"<br>"…wow."

At this point of time, we saw Crimson in the horizon, putting back on his Choice Specs.

"Hey Crimson!"

Crimson looked back.

"What? Wait…"

He rushed all the way here.

"OH MY ARCEUS ITS CANDY!"  
>"Erm…you want it?"<br>"YEA SURE!"

Crimson snatched the entire tray and left. Wow, how expected was that?

Suddenly, a Volcarona walked by.

"Hey."  
>"What?"<br>"You know that Typhlosion?"  
>"Yeah…he helped us get out."<br>"Well, he's going to face me for the rank of Chief. Wish him good luck."  
>"…Erm…okay…"<p>

The Volcarona flew away.

"Wow. How sinister."  
>"Yeah, speaking of which; Crimson has that battle coming up right?"<br>"Yes…that's what the girl mentioned."  
>"Let's watch him own."<br>"How would you know that he'd own?"  
>"He's got the Choice Specs. That's going to help him nab a fast kill."<br>"Oh, right."

We walked out of the courtroom once again.


	5. Destroying A Choicer 101

**Intro: Destroying A Choicer 101**

(Typhlosion)

I waltzed into the office, slammed the candy down on my table and called out,

"FREE CANDY!"

Instantly, everyone rushed to my table and grabbed a handful of candies. I just watched and waited for my turn. It was then that I realized that my Specs were not on, so I grabbed them and flicked them on. Then all of a sudden, everything was broken by another call,

"WHAT IS THIS?"

The entire atmosphere of sweet fun was broken. Everyone scattered like Rattatas and ran to their post. From there, they stood in attention. At first, I also did it; but later on I realized how I was currently the highest rank in here. A Chief hadn't been employed yet.

"Hey…why's everybody standing?"

No one answered.

I decided to only open the question to one poke; that would make the job easier. So I looked to my right and saw Corporal Skarmory there.

"Hey…why's everyone standing?"  
>"Sh! Oh wait…you're an Inspector too, right?"<br>"…duh?"

"Oh. HEY EVERYONE! TYPHLOSION'S IN THE ROOM TOO!"

Everyone instantly heaved a sigh of relief and ran back to my table for the candy. And then the call was sounded again.

"HEY!"

Instant silence again.

Now I realized why everyone was in attention just now. Volcarona was in the room too.

"Is this how you behave, kids? We are not kids! We are police! We will…"

I saw Private Roggenrola at my left. Here we go.

"Hey you."

Roggenrola looked up.  
>"Yeah?"<br>"Gimme a Rock Blast."

Roggenrola shot a rock at me with low power.

"Kay, thanks."  
>"…We must uphold our-"<p>

I flung the rock at Volcarona. It bonked her in the face really hard. Volcarona fell to the ground, stammered a little, and then came back up.

"Oww! What the-"  
>"What? Want some candy too?"<p>

I tossed a Rock candy at Volcarona. It bonked her in the face again.

"YOU!"  
>"You can't punish me; I'm in the same arena!"<p>

Everyone was laughing like crazy now. Firstly I had insulted Volcarona's 4x weakness, and then this. Volcarona was steaming mad. Then again, she kinda always was.

"HEAT WAVE!"

Volcarona sent a blast of heat against us.

Uh oh.

"Inspector! Help! I bloody hate fire helphelphelp!"

I looked down and saw Sergeant Hoppip. Yep, that little gal was some tough nut. Usually she would have enough guts (more guts than me, sheesh.) to stand up to literally everyone and anyone. And unless they taunted her to attack them and piss her off, she would be able to take down any poke.

"Hey, stand back, okay?"  
>"Yes, Inspector!"<p>

The Hoppip went behind me, and as I watched her make her move, I couldn't help but realize that everyone behind me was cringing in fear from getting whacked from the Heat Wave. Even Corporal Gigalith was kinda scared.

I made my choice.

"Fire Blast!"

The two attacks collided, and they were both neutralized.

"Give it up! We can do this tomorrow, okay?"  
>"NO! TORMENT!"<br>"What?"

Volcarona started verbally assaulting me; as if that was really going to do anything Then she started calling me a joke and all those stuff... As if that was going to do anything either.

"Meh. Fire Blast!"

I pulled off the Fire Blast, and it smacked her cleanly.

And then came the real torment.

"MAGNEZONE QUIT BECAUSE OF YOU!"  
>"What?"<p>

Everyone around me gasped and so did I. This wasn't supposed to happen. I heard some tell me that it was just the Torment, but for some reason I couldn't detect that.

"HEAT WAVE!"

Volcarona fired another Heat Wave, and this time, I decided to face it. I wasn't going to just whack from the back.

"ARRGHH!"  
>I charged forward, with no defense at all, and I was hit full force by the Heat Wave. But I was determined to keep going, so I slammed Volcarona with a really low-powered attack. As I hit, I felt that the recklessness of the attack had got into me, and I started to feel tired from the recoil.<p>

"HEAT WAVE!"  
>I heard Heat Wave again; but all of a sudden I realized; I woke up to realize that I had fallen under the Torment. That move I used was Struggle.<p>

Oh well. Too late for thought.

The Heat Wave slammed into me and I was sent flying backwards. I slammed against the glass, unable to move.

"Urrgh…"  
>"Inspector!"<p>

Everyone crowded around me, but as Volcarona approached, the crowd scattered. As I finally had the energy to open one eye, I felt Volcarona fling off my hat with Psychic. She exhaled another Heat Wave on it, and the rank burned off.

"That's for tampering with the force."

And then, as if she really had nothing better to do, she used Psychic again; this time she took off my Choice Specs.

"You wouldn't need this."

I immediately woke up and got back to my senses.

The Choice Specs was one of the only treasures in my life; I had to keep it safe.

"NOO! ERUPTION!"

Without thinking, I tried to pull off an Eruption…but forgot that at low HP, Eruption would barely touch anything. The rocks from the Eruption landed on the ground, sizzling, apparently trying to catch fire. Volcarona laughed.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a member of the force."

I clinched my teeth, picked up a **rock** from the Eruption and hurled it at Volcarona. She felt the blow hard and fell to the ground. No one laughed this time. Volcarona however, still became furious.

"Get out. You are no longer a part of this force."

Everyone gasped, and crowded around me. For the first time in my life, I felt great to have this many friends.

"You don't speak for him! You're both the same rank!"  
>"Really? Then ask him to challenge me tomorrow!"<p>

Corporal Arcanine came down to me.

"Hey! You can do it! Just whack her tomorrow and we'll all be free!"  
>"…There's no point."<p>

Everyone gasped.

Eyes half-closed, I stared at Volcarona.

"Hey…what did you say I had to do?"  
>"Get out."<br>"Yes, Chief…"

I struggled to my feet, fell once, and then finally got back up.

"What time do we battle tomorrow?"  
>"9."<p>

Everyone was actually happy for a moment. But after that moment they realized how I was actually surrendering tomorrow.

"Good game, players."

I walked out, and everyone watched. They couldn't stop me; nor Volcarona. Now that she had taken my Specs, I was just the ordinary Typhlosion that couldn't do anything.


	6. How To Turn A Speech Into A Catfight

**LAST CHAPTER OF INTRO. ENDURE.**

**Intro: How to Turn a Speech into a Catfight**

(Glaceon)

We find ourselves stuck in this really nice stadium, and the stadium is deserted to the max. There is like about ten other pokes sitting in here and most of them are sleeping. Just like the legends. Sleeping during their free time.

I turn over to Frenzy.

"Hey."

He's a really nice guy; he opens up immediately.

"Heya."  
>"So…where was the last place you wallbroke?"<br>"Heh. A Normal Village."  
>"I'm sorry, what?"<br>"A village of Normals."  
>"Oh."<p>

"And you're a revenge killer, right?"

I blushed. "Heh, yeah."

"Last torture?"  
>"…I…"<p>

Man, he just had to ask that.  
>"Is second last okay with you?"<p>

Just as I said that, Crowds and crowds of pokes started flooding into the stadium. All of them were holding weird banners and most of them were wearing headbands that were painted red and orange. Another look at those made me realize how Crimson was stealing the show here.

A really enthusiastic Hoppip came and…somehow sat next to me. She was like going bonkers over the thing.

"YAY CRIMSON! GOGOGOGO! G-"  
>"Hey, big supporter?"<p>

The little Hoppip turned her head (body) up to me and instantly she turned…happy. Not like Hoppips are ever unhappy, but oh well.  
>"Wow it's you! Heya! Nice job at the trial anyway."<p>

I chuckled.  
>"Heh, thanks a million."<p>

And the crowd started cheering.  
>"COME BACK! COME BACK!"<p>

The Hoppip beside me caught that too.  
>"Oh! Erm…COME BACK COME BACK !<br>"Wait, come back?"

Frenzy was doing his own thinking. Out loud.

"Wait, if he's coming back that means that he's already gone so he's gone from the force. Hang on a sec what the-?"

He turned to the Hoppip.

"What happened?"  
>"Oh! Well…Crimson lost to an unfair battle yesterday to Volcarona. Heck, I hate that Poocheyena; just wish I could go over and destroy her like I always d-"<br>"Whoawhoawhoa…to the point, please."  
>"Oh yeah. Well, Crimson lost in a battle yesterday and Volcarona did some unfair treatment and removed him from the force. But he's still coming back today to we want him backbackback!"<br>"Okay…"

I turned to Frenzy.

"He's gonna win. Chill."  
>"He Mukkin better win."<br>"Hey…let's try not to cuss. It's gonna make our job as ordinary pokes easier."  
>"Hrmph. Actually, you do make a point, yeah."<p>

Suddenly, the lights dimmed. The crowd started going wild.

"OH YEAH GO CRIMSON GOGOGOGO!"  
>The Hoppip was the only voice that I heard. Well, yeah.<p>

And a spotlight shone down.  
>Right on a little podium where the pokes used to make speeches.<p>

The Hoppip beside me overreacted.  
>"Hey! What's this? THIS IS MUKKIN BLASTPHEMY!"<p>

The members of the force were not really too shaken with Hoppip. A little Roggenrola sitting beside Hoppip was like, "Sergeant…?"  
>"Private, you do see that this is really stupid, eh?"<br>"Yeah…but…"

Typhlosion walked up to the podium.

And today was the first time in my life that I saw a pissed off Hoppip.

"HEY INSPECTOR! G-"  
>"Sergeant, I'm no longer an Inspector…"<br>"WELL NOT TO ME! RIGHT, FORCE?"

The crowd cheered. That Hoppip really had some domineering presence.

"Silence!"

It was a really messed up voice that I could recognize. A Volcarona.

"All members of the force, let's let our ex-Inspector speak."

The Hoppip beside me was about to revolt again, but I could tell that she was actually thinking about it this time; revolting now was a bad idea.

I watched as Crimson took out his script, and he took a little glance at it. It wasn't a pleasant sight; seeing him so solemn and quiet. Not like him, compared to yesterday. Maybe I should get a sugar bomb and bombard him with it. That's actually a pretty good idea.

"Members…of the force…today I…I…"

Crimson took another look at the script. He turned it 180 degrees, turned it another 90 clowkwise, and then seared it with a small fire.

"I don't need to read off this stuff."

Typhlosion had already cracked up a small smile.

Volcarona couldn't care less about that.

"All I wanna say guys is that…you don't need me to be a part of this force. All you need is the determination to push on. Insert more random Tauros-crap here. But I just wanna leave you with something."

Epic pause.

"You have a choice. You've got a HP Rock to eliminate your opponent, but your friends will all feel the brunt of a Heat Wave attack. You've also got Fire Blast which can save your friends, at the cost of not being able to kill; which would lead to your imminent death. Pick one. The Choice is yours."

The crowd cheered loudly. The Hoppip beside me started tearing. Everyone was really happy except for Volcarona.

"How…dare…you!..."  
>"How dare me?"<br>"Psychic!"

Volcarona exerted all her energy and used Psychic on Crimson.

Okay, that was bad.

"Arrgghh…hey, no rough play!"

"REALLY?"

The Hoppip next to me became outraged.

"THAT'S…IT! FORCE, ATTACK!"

No one was willing to step out.

"…Fine, I'll take her myself!"

Frenzy was about to spring out and attack; I could see that. But I held him to the chair.

"Let's try to look good. Attacking the wrong person means that things go bad."  
>"Good point, yeah. But the Hoppip…"<br>"She can do it…I hope."

Hoppip floated up right in front of the bug.

"YOU! Let Crimson go now!"

"And what can you do about it, Sergeant? You're pathetic for a Sergeant, by the way."  
>"Okay! That crosses it! Sleep Powder!"<p>

Hoppip danced around Volcarona, scattering sleep-inducing dust all over her.

Volcarona smiled, and took out a Lum Berry. She ingested it immediately.

"You can't put me to sleep."  
>"Hey! That's not fair!"<p>

Crimson, still stuck in Psychic, shouted out to her.

Volcarona laughed and flicked on the Choice Specs.

"Well, how's this?"  
>"No…"<p>

"OKAY! YOU'RE SO MUKKED NOW!"

The Hoppip was reallyreally pissed. In fact, I could sense that the crowd was reallyreally pissed.

"Oh really? Heat Wave!"

Volcarona somehow still held the Psychic, and exhaled a hot breath on Hoppip. But once she exhaled the breath, the Psychic was dispelled.

"Substi- arrgghH!"

Before Hoppip could pull off her Substitute, the Heat Wave had already smashed into her full force.

"Hoppip! Hey!"

"What's that about?"

I turned to Luxray.

"Let's go help her."  
>"Yeah, got it."<p>

The two of us stood up, and rushed over to Hoppip.

"Hey gal! You okay?"  
>"Y-yeaah…I'm not feelin' anything…felt Crimson's Eruption before…unboosted…burns so much more than this…"<br>"Hey! Just…ermm…use Synthesis!"  
>"I'm…a SubSeeder…if you know what that means…"<br>"Use Leech Seed on me! Quick!"  
>"Reall- aww crap I've got to; I don't wanna go…Leech Seed!"<p>

I had two seeds planted on me, and I felt a little of my energy sapped by it.

"Ethereal…are you serious?"  
>"Yep, gal. I'm serious."<p>

The Hoppip suddenly became a lot more energetic.

"Urgh…thanks so much! Really!"

"No prob. Better go rest."  
>"Yeah…I'll unplant the seeds."<p>

With utmost presicion, she dispelled the Leech Seeds. Wow.

Meanwhile, Crimson was having his time fighting Volcarona on the stage.

"You're choiced into Heat Wave now…so good luck!"  
>"Heh, don't be too happy. Heat Wave!"<p>

Even though Crimson resisted the attack, it would definitely hit hard. So I did my job.

I jumped right into the range of the Heat Wave. Lots of heat surged through me, and slammed at the worst places possible. But I didn't feel it that much.

"Ethereal?"  
>"Hey, Crimson."<p>

The attack ended, and I was untouched.

"But…"  
>"I'm fireproof, kay? Something I have."<p>

The three of us looked at Volcarona.

Frenzy decided to finish her in one hit.

"Hey, ever heard of Bolt-Beam-Blast?"  
>"Yep, and I think I get where you're going."<br>"Me too! Let's do it!"

Volcarona was suddenly intimidated by the sheer presence of the three of us.

"I'll go first! Wild Charge!"  
>Frenzy did a little roar thing, and cloaked his body in electricity. It formed a nice yellow hue.<p>

"Let's do this! Fire Blast!"  
>Crimson shot Fire Blast on Frenzy. The Fire Blast smashed into Wild Charge range, and the heat from the Fire Blast was absorbed into the field, creating a orange-yellow spiral.<p>

"I'm gonna enjoy this! Ice Beam!"  
>I launched an Ice Beam into the radiating energy field of the Wild Charge, and it collided with the fire and electricity, making a beautiful flurry of color. The energy radiating was amazingly powerful. There was no way that this was going to fail.<p>

"No…NO!"  
>"Take this, you Pooche-"<p>

"HALT!"

The booming voice through the hall suddenly caused Frenzy to lose his concentration and fall flat onto the floor, a little shaken from the Wild Charge recoil but not too badly shaken anyway. Crimson and I looked up to where the voice was coming from.

"Oh, hey! Didn't know that there was a fight here…erm…carry on!"

It was Arceus. He was supposed to watch the speech, but apparently he came in late.

"Speaking of which, it looks like all of you guys like Crimson! Guess I need one of those banners too! By the way, since there's a fight going on, can anyone get me some popcorn or something?"

"Your Honour!"  
>"What's that?"<p>

Volcarona had approached Arceus.

"Look, these defilers have attacked me! What should I do with them?"

Hoppip stood up.

"Hey! What 'defilers'? You're the Poocheyena!"

Arceus raised an eyebrow.

"No, she's a Volcarona."  
>"…Never mind, but she's not telling the truth!"<p>

Volcarona smiled.

"Arceus."  
>"Yes?"<p>

"Do me a favor."  
>"Yes?"<br>"Sack all of these defilers out of the force! Now!"

Hoppip was surprisingly happy.

"Yeah! Sack us all out of the force! Do it!"

Arceus smiled.

"Oh, I guess that's fine."

Everyone in the crowd was surprisingly pleased with that.

"Alright! Everyone throw off your ranks we're gonna get the hell out of here and PARTEH!~~~ Let's go!"

Arceus strolled out, with a skip in his steps.

The stadium was now empty, except for the three of us and Volcarona.

She smiled, and came down to us.

"You three, better get out of here."  
>"Oh yeah? Give Crimson back his Specs first!"<br>"Nah, don't feel like it."

Volcarona sped away really…slowly.

I swore that I could have caught her, but today, I ran too slowly. I wasn't Scarfed anymore.

Crimson wasn't too scared about that anyway.

"Oh well, she has to come back here anyway! Arceus might be a little off, but he will gladly incinerate anyone with a Judgement if they don't do their job so we can come back here anytime! No prob!"  
>"Heh, guess so. Wait, we?"<p>

Crimson smiled.

"Let's admit it; we three are a good team! You two go repairing your pasts, I'll just tag along! How's that?"

I made a sheepish smile.

"Heh…well…wasn't what I though of one bi- OKAY OKAY IT WAS TOTALLY WHAT I THOUGHT OF! Don't get any ideas about…me and Frenzy here…"

Frenzy was pretty on.

"Yeah! I'm gonna do it! Come on, it's much better with three than one."

We did a little group-hi-five.


	7. Life Kills

_I admit; fighting with you is wrong.  
>But I never said that you could use sharp stuff against me.<br>I'm stronger than you; I'm faster than you; I can hit harder; I can hit faster.  
><em>_But I don't need to cheat to win._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One:<br>Life. Kills.**

(Luxray)

We were taken to Crimson's house. Instantly, the first thing I noticed was that Hoppip was tending to the garden.

"Oh My Arceus! Heya!"

Ethereal laughed.

"Aww, the hardcore Hoppip. Hey."  
>"Soo…I heard from Crimson that you were coming here! Trust me; you'll love this place!"<p>

I simply smiled.

"Heh, true that. I guess I'll love it."  
>"So you work here?"<br>"Naw, I'm actually the owner of this place! Well, second owner."  
>"Huh?"<br>"Well, Crimson's place got destroyed, so he hitched a ride here! It's a pretty big place so I guess it was necessary to split it anyway."

"Yep, it's totally true!" Crimson interjected.

"Oh well, so I guess we start today, right?"  
>"Yep!"<br>"Let's go inside…Crimson, can you go off for a while? Ethereal and I are…doing some criminal talk."  
>"I get you. Righty then!"<p>

The next minute, Ethereal and I were sitting on a random couch in the house together.

"Soooo where do we start repairing our past?"  
>"Let's get our Choice items back first."<br>"What? No! Don't!"  
>"Why not?"<br>"Well...because...erm..."

Ethereal seemed to be hiding something from me. She was definitely really against trying to get the most precious thing in her life back. Weird, eh?

"...because they'll suspect us! Yep! The Choice items are why we're so formidable...we should start from scratch."  
>"Alright, got that."<p>

We got up.

"So now what, furball?"  
>"Let's go rescue some pokes."<br>"You mean the Mystery Dungeons and such?"  
>"Yeah...why not?"<br>"But...its too unoriginal."  
>"Yeah, true."<p>

Slight pause.

"Hey big guy."  
>"What?"<br>"Which was the first place you destroyed?"

Hearing that statement, I couldn't help but laugh.  
>"Ermm...hehe...you tell me first."<br>"Scared?"

Okay, she was playing tough.  
>"Tell me first."<br>"...why?"

We stared right into each other.

"Okay, the first destruction was my own village."  
>"Hey, same here. First torture was with the village leader."<p>

"Right, is Crimson ready? I think I'm gonna head to my village first…we'll do yours sometime later."  
>"Yeah, I guess so. I'll check up on my village sometime later. Let's go to Crimson's room."<p>

We got into Crimson's room. He was just getting ready to set off.

"So let's go! Quick!"  
>"Whoa...I thought you just-"<br>"Screw the force! This is a much better job!"  
>"Okay...where's Hoppip?"<br>"Oh. She's still at the garden; talking about some surprise thing. I like surprises!"  
>"Mmhmm. Kay."<p>

"So where are we going? Where?"  
>"Amp Plains."<br>"What? Doesn't that sound familiar?"  
>"It should."<p>

I got my backpack up ready and we headed off for Amp Plains. I could feel my heart smashing into me every second...and I started to realize how this was a pretty bad idea, but I couldn't show weakness. I had decided to come here and there was no turning back.

We arrived at the huge entrance. I checked the surroundings, and there was nobody around. Good.

We took one step into the plains.

"Halt!"  
>"What?"<p>

A Luxray jumped in front of me.  
>"Who are-"<p>

He recognised me immediately.  
>"Hmph. So you make the media happy and then go out and try to smash us again."<br>"No! You don't get it!"  
>"I'll take you out right here!"<p>

The Luxray got into a battling stance.

"I don't wanna fight! Hey! I just wanna speak to the leader!"  
>"Shut up and get out!"<p>

Ethereal and Crimson got into battling position too. But I had to stop them.

"Could both of you step aside? I really need to do this alone."

They looked at each other.  
>"Sure."<br>"Aww...fine."

I didn't get to my battling position yet.  
>"Look, we can do this without violence!"<br>"Crunch!"

The opposing Luxray gaped its mouth wide, and lunged forward.  
>I quickly sidestepped as the attack missed.<p>

"Hey!"  
>"We don't have to fight! Come on!"<br>"Crunch!"

This time, I was so busy with my speech that I was bitten right in the arm. But it wasn't that bad.

I let the Luxray cling on to me.  
>"Please...can't you see I'm not fighting?"<p>

He bit harder.  
>Okay, now this felt bad.<p>

"Owwwcchh!"

Immediately, I swung the Luxray right off my hand, and he flew right into a corner. I just stood there.

The opposing Luxray got up.  
>"Why you...you..."<br>"Can we just call it the end here?"

I walked up to the Luxray and stuck out my left paw to hold him up.

"Come on."  
>"Ice Fang!"<p>

I was bitten right where the Crunch had hit just now. And this time, it was infused with ice.

"Arrrggghhh!"

I felt a shiver run right through me. Suddenly, everything felt really cold all over. Ethereal realised it quick.

"Frenzy! You okay?"  
>"Y-y-...yeah...just...c-"<p>

She stepped up against the Luxray.  
>"Hey! My friend here could have thrashed you if he wanted to; so what makes you think he's still trying to get to you?"<br>"Don't try to change my mind! Superpower!"

The Luxray charged towards Ethereal. She didn't flinch.

"Ice Beam!"  
>"No! Don't!"<p>

Then all of a sudden, the Luxray's Superpower was brought to nothing. He quickly slammed on the floor, shutting his eyes, as Ethereal...skillfully dispelled the Ice Beam.

"G..."  
>"Yep! Did it!"<p>

The Luxray slowly opened his eyes to see that it wasn't over.

"Oh my..."  
>"Frenzy!"<br>"What?"  
>"Not you!"<p>

Crimson and Ethereal ran over to me.  
>"Hehh...t-t-thanks."<br>"Ty! Quick!"  
>"Got that! Fire Blast!"<p>

Crimson scorched me with a searing Fire Blast. And it felt really good.

"Aww...yeah..."  
>"No problemo!"<p>

The Luxray slowly trodded over towards me.  
>"Hey...sorry man..."<br>"Don't mention it. But can you lead us to the leader?"  
>"Sure thing! It's the least I can do."<p>

The Luxray led us through the totally barren plains. Crimson was looking around frantically.

"Hey...is this how much damage you've caused? That's some serious stuff if it is!"  
>"Nope. Less."<p>

Eventually, we were led to a city.

"We're here!"  
>"Huh? But..."<p>

The entire city was beautiful. Prosperous, if I could say so myself. There were lots of advanced stuff all over.

"But...but..."  
>"Twenty years ago you destroyed this city, right?"<br>"Yeah...I...I..."

I didn't know how he could say that kind of stuff so casually. But I was starting to slink away.

"Hey! Don't fret! It's fine!"  
>"...kay."<br>"Look, after everything went down, some guy found Life Liquid underneath. That led to the manufacturing of the Life Orbs. Which gave us heaps of cash!"

My eyes widened.  
>"Life Orbs?"<p>

I looked back, and apparently Ethereal was just as confused. But Crimson knew something.

"Basically its an item that trades in a little health for a little power when you attack. Still less than the Choice items, though."  
>"Correct."<p>

Ethereal suddenly lit up.

"Extra power? Where do we buy those?"

I patted my friend in the back.

"Hey…let's keep the power thing down okay?"  
>"Aww…"<p>

The Luxray continued.

"Anyway, if you really want a Life Orb that bad, just take one. It's easy to get one."

"Nah, I'll…abstain…I hope…"

But I was not too interested with them. I realised how I was actually a savior. I gave the city life.

"Well...since you're through, why not just go home?"  
>"Wait. I wanna see the leader first."<br>"Kay then!"

I walked along with my two buddies as the Luxray waved us goodbye and went back to being a guard.

We walked through the streets; most of the pokes stared at us, but since we were kinda used to that, we weren't too scared. Eventually we were met with a palace. Was this the leader's place?

We walked in innocently. Sitting on top of the throne was the leader of the Luxray pack...a slightly larger Luxray.

"Ah! It's you three!"  
>"Leader?"<p>

He walked down.  
>"Yes, it's me."<p>

I was dumbstruck. This wasn't the same Leader I knew. He was an inspiring guy, always willing to serve...what happened?

"Come, sit down."

We just sat in front of him.  
>"So I would actually like to thank you."<br>"For the coincidental Life Liquid mining thing?"  
>"Yeah."<br>"Why thank me?"  
>"Because you made us rich."<br>"Okay..."

I turned around.  
>"Well, let's go then."<p>

The two followed behind me, and as they walked right out I quickly jumped into the palace, slammed the palace door and locked it.

"Huh?" the Leader Luxray was pretty stumped on why I did that.

"What happened?"  
>"I don't get what you're talking about!"<br>"I thought you're not the type that would want a palace for yourself! You're supposed to be a caring kind of guy right?"

He smiled and leaned lazily.  
>"Why can't I? I mean, I found the Life Liquid!"<br>"So what?"  
>"I'm the hero!"<p>

I was pissed. Really. Arrogance always set me off.

"Look! I came here to rebuild the city! But it looks like you need more rebuilding than the city eh?"  
>"How come? I'm just me."<br>"No you're not! Hey! Snap out of that!"

He grunted.  
>"I can take you out right now."<br>"Bring it on!"  
>"Well well. We've got a match then."<p>

He slowly stepped off the throne.  
>"Let's do this."<br>"Hurry up."  
>"Giga Impact!"<p>

He led with Giga Impact, which wasn't such a good idea.

"Superpower!"

I cloaked my paws in white light, and slammed them both into the Giga Impact radius just as he came in. He was flung right into the wall. There was a huge smashing sound, and I felt one chunk of energy taken away from me.

I could hear slamming from outside. I think my friends were starting to panic. Oh well, it was essentially already over. I slowly walked towards the Leader. He was so scared that he could barely move.

I cloaked one paw in Superpower.  
>He cringed in fear.<br>And then I put it down.

"You...you..."  
>"I'll leave you to think about this."<p>

I left the room, and apparently Ethereal and Crimson were watching through the windows...so they quickly ran for the door.

"Good job!"  
>"Yep. Your method worked, G."<br>"Oh!...hehheh."

Crimson posed a question.  
>"So...that's it? We have to go now?"<br>"Yep."  
>"Aww...wanted to fight."<br>"...sorry, ma-"

I saw Crimson and Ethereal put up a shocked face.  
>"Hello?"<br>"Watch out!"

I was slammed with a Giga Impact, and I slammed into the ceiling. The force was so huge that the door was slammed tight.

"OWWWW!"  
>"Heh. You can't win that fast."<p>

I plopped right back down on the ground.  
>"Urgh..."<p>

Quickly I shook myself.  
>"Hey! What's this?"<p>

Then I noticed that the Leader was covered in a pinkish liquid. The Life Liquid.

"What...?"

The Leader held up a broken cannister of Life Liquid.  
>"I think you're gone."<p>

I chuckled.  
>"Wow, do you really want to win that bad?"<br>"Excuse me?"  
>"Do you need to win so bad that you cheat for it?"<p>

The Leader paused. Then, he got so infuriated that he stomped the ground hard, cracking holes in it.

"YOU!"  
>"Me."<br>"DISCHARGE!"

The Luxray jumped up and started sending electricity flying in all directions. The walls were smashed with the force of the attack. And I was hit really hard.

"ARRRGGHHH!"

I was sent smashing against the door. There was a huge dent in it.

"Ghh...no..."  
>"GAME OVER! GIGA IMPACT!"<br>"No!"

I watched him ride the force of the attack to send me flying again.

"Superpower!"

I cloaked my paws in light and tried my best to neutralise the attack. In a helpless attempt, I smashed against the pink veil, causing it to become a little smaller. That didn't really help.

"AAAARRRGGHH!"  
>I was slammed right into the ground. This time, it wasn't going to be so easy to win.<p>

Then I saw it.  
>An unopened cannister of Life Liquid right beside me.<br>Beautiful! This would mean that he was doomed. Wait, I couldn't use that. But I have to...

I saw the Leader take a few steps back from the effect of Giga Impact. This was my chance to grab the Life Liquid and take back my win. I stretched out my hand to grab it...and took it back again. Once again I tried to grab it...but I found myself pulling back.

I decided. **I made my choice.**  
>I stretched out my hand...<br>And unlocked the door.

"What?"  
>"I don't need that Life Liquid to win. I've got another method that works just at well."<p>

"That's right!"

Ethereal and Crimson stormed in.

"Let's do this!"  
>"Yeah!"<p>

"You're the best..."

"Hey furball!"  
>"What...?"<br>"There's a downside of Life Liquid...everytime you attack you lose HP. All we need to do is stall."  
>"...How...?"<br>"We fight it off."

The Leader Luxray got up just as we finished.  
>"Got friends, eh...? This'll go down...quick...Discharge!"<p>

The Luxray jumped up and sent electricity flying in all directions again. I got ready for the end.

But it wasn't the end.

"Eruption!"

Crimson sent flaming rocks flying in all directions. They smashed against the Discharge, and most of the Discharge was neutralised. There was still one wave coming for us.

"Arrgghh! No!"  
>"Hidden Power!"<p>

Ethereal stood in front of me and smashed a Hidden Power straight into the last wave of electricity.

"...Whoa...thanks, Ethy..."  
>"Welcome!"<p>

The Luxray was getting screwed over by the Life Liquid. But he had to push on to win.  
>"No...Will...Not...Not..."<p>

"Ice-"  
>"Wait! Don't... attack..."<p>

Ethereal stopped her attack. She took another look at me; I was pretty worn out. But she decided to let me have my way.  
>"Sure I guess."<br>"Let's...try not to...*pants*..."  
>"Hey...hold out, man."<p>

"GIGA IMPACT!"  
>The Luxray was going to try to take us all out in one hit...which wasn't too possible.<p>

"Let's...go...Wild Charge...!"  
>I charged forward, trying to neutralise the hit.<p>

"Quick Ty! Let's help him out!"  
>"Yeah! Focus Blast!"<br>"Shadow Ball!"

I could feel the attacks radiating around me. I tried to keep focused as I watched the attack come straight for me.  
>"RARRGGHH!"<br>"...whatever."

I smashed hard, and tried to keep focused as all the pressure started crashing on me all over. I eventually managed to jump back on my feet.

"Yeah...!"  
>"Go Frenzy!"<p>

The Leader was stuck on the floor, motionless from the Giga Impact.

"Let's end this...! WILD CHARGE!"  
>"Fire Blast!"<br>"Ice Beam!"

The two attacks curled around me as I aimed for the middle.  
>"Nooooo!"<br>"Yep."

And I stopped the attack.  
>Stopped right there.<p>

The Leader looked up at me, quickly got up to his feet, sank down to the ground again, and said to me,  
>"Thank you..."<br>"No prob."

"...You should have taken the Life Liquid...it would mean winning..."  
>"But… you don't need…*pants* cheats to win...neither do you need a palace to be a… great pokemon. What you… must do is make the most… of what you have…and serve…"<p>

I strolled off slowly, leaving the Leader silent.

As we walked back home, the two were all carrying me, telling me,  
>"Good job!"<br>"Yep! Good job!"

"...thanks..."

I closed my eyes, and smiled.  
>Knowing that you made the right choice...sometimes that's the best feeling ever, eh?<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>But why strike back when I know that I'm not the only one fighting with you?<strong>_


	8. The Father And his Daughter

_If you don't already know, I'm 15 this year. So I admit that I'm still controlled by my parents. Tsk tsk tsk...  
>But here's the important part: I write, and my parents call me too obsessed to computer gaming because I write. I know, it's a little messed up. <em>

_So one fine day I'm taking a break and playing a game. Parents come in.  
>Computer gone, all that, crap it. No writing for two days or so.<br>__Did you really have to do that?_

_And you tell me that it's wrong to be defiant?_

**Chapter Two:  
>The Father And His Daughter<strong>

(Typhlosion)

Finally. We finally made it home.  
>Trust me, carrying a huge furball three kilometers isn't that easy. In fact, I kinda wonder how Ethereal did it...her Attack score is around half of mine.<p>

Frenzy had conveniently fallen asleep on top of the two of us; but what could I say? He had gone through quite a lot, with that cheating thing and all that.

We finally got to the door, and Hoppip was already waiting there.

"Hey! How's it!"  
>"Great...yeah..."<p>

I slumped on the floor. Wow, I was such a great friend. Leaving Ethereal to carry Frenzy by herself. Genius move.

Ethereal quickly tried to regain balance; and in doing so she had to get Frenzy on her. A Glaceon was bearing the weight of a Luxray. Owwcchh. I bet Ethereal was gonna crash to the ground.

But she didn't.

"How...?"  
>"Heh."<p>

She walked into the house, and Hoppip watched her go.  
>"Suspicious eh?"<br>"...yeah..."  
>"You okay?"<br>"Yep...got any..."  
>"Here."<p>

Hoppip handed me a Sitrus Berry. And she shuffed it down my mouth. It felt much better after that.

"Aww thanks!"  
>"No prob!"<p>

Then she reverted to the old point.  
>"Ethereal's...a little..."<br>"Suspicious?"  
>"Yep! She's meant to collapse before you!"<br>"...sooooooo..."  
>"She's holding something!"<br>"Okay! Gonna check it out! Thanks then!"

I got into the house and watched Ethereal plop Frenzy down onto his bed. She stretched, still smiling, and then walked out of the room.

"Hey Ethereal."

She turned to me and gave me a short sly smile.  
>"Heya."<br>"Power boost?"

Ethereal smirked.  
>"Can't keep anything eh?"<p>

And she took out a Life Orb.

"Whoa...Oh My Arceus…"  
>"Yep! All ours! Got two more for you and Frenzy while we don't have the Choice items to make up for the power!"<br>"Whoa than-"

And I realised. Jokey mood suddenly turned off, I sternly asked Ethereal,

"Wait you stole it?"  
>"Why not? Frenzy taught that leader something! So this is compensation!"<br>"But you STOLE it!"  
>"So what?"<br>"Return it?"

Ethereal looked down. She struck a seductive look at me and then went on.  
>"Aww you had to say it..."<br>"Stop it! It's not yours!"  
>"But they've got millions."<br>"So what? You should return it!"

Ethereal glared at me for a short moment.  
>And then she sighed a little.<p>

"I'll return it."

And then she walked out.

I didn't know.  
>So I followed her.<p>

She seemed to be heading for the plains. Well, guess that she was pretty honest after all...But at the last bit she made a quick turn. I was a little taken aback because there was nothing at that intersection. Nothing.

Eventually she got to a clearing. How I managed to stalk her here was really the result of my years of police experience. There were lots of rocks around so it was pretty easy to hide.

Ethereal took in a deep breath and sighed. She charged for an Ice Beam, then at the last moment she launched it right at me, breaking right through the rock and slamming straight into me.

"Argh! What the-"  
>"I'm sorry, I know it when someone's stalking."<p>

I quickly shook off the chill.  
>"Hey just return them! It's not that hard!"<br>"C'mon! They won't find out..."

I turned away.  
>"Forgive me."<br>"Oh?"  
>"Fire Blast!"<p>

I made a quick turn and blasted a huge burst of fire at Ethereal.

"Hmph."

She just stood there, taking the attack in full. Everything was sponged right in.

"What? Oh yeah, I forgot…"  
>"You don't seem to know enough of me, eh?"<br>"You're resistant...but..."  
>"I'm sorry. Hidden Power!"<p>

Ethereal flung three spheres of energy right at me. They smashed on the ground and started charging up to me...and I couldn't avoid that.

"ARRRGGHHH!"

I fell right onto the ground. And I was about to get up, but I quickly made sure that I stayed there; staying fainted was better sometimes.

Ethereal stared at the Life Orb for a while.  
>"Meh."<p>

She charged up an Ice Beam and fired straight at a rock. It smashed into pieces. She started laughing in exhilaration. Immediately she charged up another Ice Beam and smashed another rock.

Gawsh, that's some obsession. She was totally enjoying the power. She loved it. Frenzy was right to warn her to try not to swipe the Life Orbs.

Suddenly, the smashing stopped. Ethereal realised how one of the rocks she had smashed had a little Duskull hiding behind it.

"Eep! Help!"  
>"Hey...it's fine..."<p>

Immediately, I got up, and took cover. Ethereal was so caught into the act that she didn't realise.

The Duskull was apparently trying to manipulate a blue fire in a jar. Ethereal walked up, and the Duskull realised how she wasn't intending to do anything...so he stayed there.

"Hey, what'cha doing?"  
>"...learning Will-o-wisp?"<br>"Kay..."

The Duskull made a ghastly stare at Ethereal, and then went back to the fire. It wasn't going to work out; I could see that.

But the scariest part was that even Ethereal could see that.

"Hey, it won't work out like that..."  
>"Huh?"<br>"...Tell ya wad, stare into the blue fire."

The Duskull raised one eye.  
>"But...you're...an Ice."<br>"Just do it."

The Duskull stared into the fire.  
>"Okay..."<br>"Now use Shadow Ball."  
>"What?"<br>"Go."

The Duskull aimlessly shot the Shadow Ball at the fire, and what came out was a blue fire. It was extremely weak and it flew upwards, but it worked. I didn't believe it; Ethereal taught a fire move to Duskull.

"Oh my-"  
>"Beautiful."<br>"But...how?"

The Duskull looked at Ethereal in shock.  
>Ethereal made a sweet smile.<p>

"Yep! So next time just-"  
>"Watch out!"<br>"Huh?"

Ethereal turned around, and she quickly dodged the coming bolt of Will-o-wisp. She totally jumped back in shock from the attack.

"…Are you okay?"  
>"Yep…I'm…fine…I'm…actually I'm fine."<p>

I could hear fear in her voice. She was apparently going to do anything to not get close to that flame.

"Why did you teach me Will-o…if you're afraid of it…?"  
>"Why… can't I?"<br>"…Thanks! Ooh, daddy's gonna be so proud!"

The Duskull faded into nothing.

I pretended to wake up right now.

"...What happened...?"

Ethereal quickly tried to wake up from her little scare there.  
>"Nothing! I'm fine."<p>

She gave me that innocent smile. She wasn't angry with me. No way. I thought she'd eternally ignore me for that Fire Blast.

Today, I had just learnt that Ethereal doesn't bear grudges.

We eventually got back home, and Ethereal went up to her room chirpy as ever. While I took a turn to Frenzy's room.

I knocked the door and Frenzy opened it.

"Hey, how's it?"  
>"Hey lemme get in I need to tell you some stuff."<p>

Frenzy quickly let me in and then slammed the door shut.

"Okay, what?"  
>"You know Ethereal?"<br>"Yeah, how did she carry me? I bet you were the only one doing the work."  
>"Interestingly she's actually the one that did all the work."<br>"What?"  
>"Yep!"<br>"How?"  
>"...She swiped three Life Orbs."<p>

Frenzy was actually dazed.

"Who's side should I take...?"  
>"Mine, duh!"<br>"...well...yeah."

I heaved a sigh of relief. If Frenzy wanted the power as well, this fic wouldn't exist.

"But here's the thing. She may not seem like it, but Ethereal is power-hungry. She's nice on the outside but...well, nice on the inside, but still rough."  
>"Whoa. Deep."<p>

Frenzy thought for a while.  
>"You have to threaten her with something..."<br>"Like what?"  
>"That comes later. But when you threaten her, you're...toying with the friendship a little."<p>

Toying with the friendship? But this is only the second chapter! You can't break it right now!

"But it's not like she's right, right?"  
>"I'll make it your choice...you got yourself involved; so it's your responsibility right?"<br>"...You're just pushing the blame to me aren't you?"

"Man, Ethereal wouldn't want to know that you told me..."  
>Frenzy gave me an innocent smile.<p>

He was right; this was my job.

"Screw you." I laughed and said.  
>"Whoops."<p>

I walked out of the room, and went up to Ethereal's room. She was already fast asleep; the Life Orb tires you out fast. But tomorrow I was sure that she would go back to that place. I was sure.

The only problem was that I had to threaten her to stop this obsession for power. In doing so I might screw her over like Frenzy said. But it was for her own good. I had to do this! But this was gonna ruin the friendship...I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't. But if I didn't, if Ethereal reverted to her old self, there wouldn't be a point in this story eh? No it's too risky. Too risky. But what can I do about that?

**I made my choice.  
><strong>  
>I went outside. Hoppip was staring into me.<br>"So what?"  
>"Hey Hoppip."<br>"Did it work?"  
>"Where's the nearest place I can find a potion shop?"<br>"...Over the mountains, under th- actually just tell me what you need, I'll get it for you."  
>"It's...dangerous."<br>"Yay!"  
>"Okay then, gimme a hydrogen bomb."<br>"Gottat!"

Hoppip drifted away in the wind.

The hydrogen bomb was delivered in thirty minutes; how Hoppip did it is unknown. But upon receiving it I took it straight to Frenzy.

"Hey!"  
>"Yeah?"<br>"Do you know how to dissect this?"

Frenzy stared at the hydrogen bomb. Then he looked away.  
>"Don't...show me that..."<br>"Please! You're a wallbreaker you should know about these stuffs!"  
>"...sure then."<p>

Frenzy gulped, and went straight up to the bomb. He smashed it right to the centre where there was a cannister. With precision he yanked it out cleanly. There was a huge "flammable" sign stamped on it.

"I bet this is what you're looking for."  
>"How did you know...?"<p>

"It's the only thing in a hydrogen bomb that isn't hydrogen. Mind you, no one in the world is afraid of hydrogen."

Frenzy looked worried. Not like I cared.  
>"...good luck tomorrow."<br>"Thanks man!"

I had my good night's sleep.

The next day, I woke up at 5, ready to catch Ethereal in the act and stalk her again. No doubt she did wake up at 5. But the Life Orb had a drawback. It consumed a lot of energy. The gal couldn't handle it. Ethereal made a little yawn and I tried not to look in case it was the Yawn attack which would put me to sleep. It wasn't. Ethereal was in fact pretty off today.

Today is was a ton easier to follow her to the clearing. A ton easier. She was definitely a lot less observant.

At the clearing, I took cover behind a rock again. I watched as Ethereal smiled and charged up for the Ice Beam. I immediately got ready with the cannister from yesterday. But Ethereal didn't aim for me. She smashed another rock.

The next moment she was laughing to herself.  
>And that was my chance.<p>

I sprang up right in front of her. Ethereal jumped back in shock.

"You!"  
>"Yep!"<p>

I immediately unplugged the cannister. Then I emptied some of it into my hand. The beautiful blue flame that was meant to stimulate the explosion was now in my possession.

Ethereal gasped in shock. She reeled backwards, and was keeping a huge clear distance from the flame.

"But...b-but..."  
>"Return them. Now."<p>

Ethereal looked down to the ground.

In that little split-second, Ethereal's possessed kind of happy was inverted; she was obviously holding back tears. I mean she was a really teary gal; but she still had an ego that she wanted to keep afloat. With her head still hung down and dull, she sniffed solemnly and let out two words in her little stuffed up muffled tone.

"Yes… papa."

I was supposed to be happy right now. For some reason though, staring at Ethereal made me feel as if I had missed something out; something was wrong here. I felt my heart thumping hard and fast.

She slowly plodded towards Amp Plains. I followed her every step, heart pumping every step. Right now, I felt terrible. I was supposed to release her from the grasps of the Life Orb. But she didn't let it go; so I forced it out. I felt as if Ethereal really needed it; what if she really needed it? No; she couldn't have it. She couldn't.

Inevitably I slapped myself. I felt my face go on fire.

We were at the entrance after ten minutes.  
>The guard Luxray was there.<p>

"Hey! It's you!"  
>"Heya..."<p>

Ethereal made a loud sniff.

"This belongs to you."

She returned the three Life Orbs. I should have felt proud...but I didn't feel proud. Dramatically, the Will-o-wisp in my hand fell to the ground and faded into nothing.

"Aww, no prob! You can keep it! We've go mi-"  
>"...It's fine...I...I...don't deserve it."<br>"Huh?"

Ethereal turned back without saying anything. Her head was still hung down, and her beautiful ears drooped down as well.

I felt my heart sink; it felt like a ton; it was pulling me right to the ground.

**Maybe this wasn't the right choice.  
><strong>I followed her out, feeling bad as ever. She was actually waiting for me outside.

"C'mon...let's go..."  
>"Yeah..."<p>

She managed to pull off a small smile.

That smile alone made me feel so much worse. Everything in the world right now was condensed into me and Ethereal. I could think, nor feel nothing else.

And that was when the Duskull from yesterday appeared right in front of us.

"Hey! How's it!"  
>"Great..."<br>"I finally mastered the attack! Daddy's super-proud of me! Wanna see?"  
>"It's fine...really..."<p>

Duskull raised one eye.  
>"What's wrong? You look sad."<br>"C'mere."

The Duskull got up to Ethereal.  
>"What?"<br>"...Your father knows?"  
>"Yep!"<br>"...Tell your father...tell him tha- tt...that..."  
>"What?"<p>

Ethereal let one tear drip.

"Hey! What's up?"  
>"...urgh, sorry...what would happen if you told your father...that you learnt Will-o from a criminal?"<p>

Those words shocked me as hard as they shocked Duskull. No way.

I realised how Ethereal's self esteem had taken a huge blow. This was all my fault...there were better methods than this...too late for them.

The Duskull was actually paralysed for a while. But eventually he got back to his normal stance.

"Well, he won't mind."

Ethereal looked up, still trying to hold back her tears.  
>"...is...iss...is that so...?"<p>

Duskull hopped. And he smiled.  
>"Because I was taught by a criminal with a heart of gold!"<p>

Ethereal stood rooted to the spot for a second or so. Then, she closed her eyes and a sweet smile returned. She allowed her tears to roam free, this time being touched by a cute Basic poke.

"Thank you, man..."  
>"No prob!"<p>

The Duskull faded away happily.

Ethereal looked up to the sky for a moment. Then she turned towards me.

"Hey fireman..."  
>"Yeah?"<br>"What have I done...?"

Ethereal came over to me and fell to the floor.

"What have I become? What have I become…?"  
>"Hey, it's fine."<br>"I'm really sorry..."

I brightened up.

"Yeah sure! Just don't steal anything kay?"  
>"Sure…! Guess that's right!"<p>

Ethereal gave me a really captivating smile as we walked back. I didn't believe it; a while ago I though that I had made the wrong choice when I definitely did it right; but suddenly everything is back again. Everything came back to normal.

Frenzy pretended not to know anything. Hoppip too. Everything was back to normal.

Making the right choice means that everything will end up full-circle; no matter the circumstances. **Always.**

_To all the friends that told me that I was the best guy in the world for sharing my notes with you, I just want to know that it made me feel that I had some stuff still in me even though I had just defied my parents and felt like shit for it. Sometimes, you just need support, eh?_

_Oh, I almost forgot; sorry, dad; sorry, mom. Shouldn't have fired my Hidden Power at you; and it was right for you to try to Fire Blast me._


	9. Pu239

_You know, sometimes damage can hit a lot harder than what we all see.  
>Whoa, deep.<em>

_So there's this friend of ours; he's a really shy guy and he can barely talk. So we like to poke fun with him and randomly whack him (it's bullying, okay?); and he just laughs it off. One day I found him crying in the corner (hell, he's 15, just like us). I can still quote what he told me that day:  
>"You're not one of them. Can you help me?"<em>

**Chapter Three:  
>Pu-239<strong>

(Glaceon)

We finally got back home from that really weird incident. Yeah, really weird incident. Still wish that I kept those Orbs, bu- argh, screw it.

I opened the door for Crimson. He was a little dazed because of my sudden increased kindness.  
>"Whoa, what's this about? I bet you're holding up some weird kind of thing and you want me to-"<br>"Quick…"

Crimson hopped in and I followed him. I followed him to this room, and he was pretty aware that I was stalking him, but apparently he knew that I needed a listening ear. So he nicely net me in.

"Nice room, man."  
>"Thanks~!"<p>

Today was actually the first time I entered his room…it was pretty nice. There was fire laced in almost every corner, generating a nice feel. According to him, Hoppip designed this for him.

"So you wanna talk to me?"  
>"Yeah."<p>

I sat down in front of him, and started my stuff.

"Hey…I'm just…I'm…I-I…"

In the very moment, I was suddenly tensed right up. Thankfully, Crimson salvaged that a little.

"Is it a sorry or a thank you? This fic really loves running around those stuffs."  
>"I'm not a poke that would break the fourth wall, but yeah, it's true. Actually, it's kinda both."<p>

I looked down, feeling my heart pump.  
>"What was I thinking?" I muttered.<br>"Aww…hey, just take it easy! It's all over right?"  
>"…Over…yeah…"<br>"Hey, you don't bear grudges, eh? Maybe apply that rule to yourself?"

I got up.

"Maybe…but it was the Duskull that saved me, eh?"  
>"Nonono! It was YOU that saved you!"<br>"Y'sure?"  
>"Yep!"<p>

I smiled.  
>"Heh, you're the best. Third chapter and I feel- nah, nothing."<p>

I walked out of Crimson's room. I was met with Frenzy.  
>"Hey! Looks like you're a little tattered."<br>"…Guess so…"

It's pretty hard to repair the scars of a mistake. Just a little MLP style lecture for those ten-year olds reading this.

"Anyway, you're heading for your village today?"  
>"Yeah. I am."<p>

"Not in that state, right?"

I looked at myself. Yeah, no doubt; I was really badly hurt from the Life Orb.  
>"I probably won't have to fight."<p>

Crimson busted right out of his room when he heard that.

"Darn it! So I guess we'll just tag along then."  
>"Heh, I expected you to stay in your room and pout, but never mind."<p>

Crimson half-closed his eyes. He made a small laugh.

"I'M gonna pout?"

Wow, that helped a lot.  
>"…You're a Poocheyena. The most female of the female ones."<p>

Crimson laughed.

"Right, let's set out then. By the way, any last stuffs?"

I remembered something I would definitely need. Just at that point.  
>"Give me a second."<p>

I dashed up to my room, and found a little science textbook in my little belongings pouch. I ripped off the very last page, which happened to be the back cover, and I tossed it in my backpack.

Now I was ready.

The three of us walked out, and Hoppip caught us sneaking out to find trouble.

"Ah HAH! There you are! I was dying to fight! C'mon, I'm coming!"

We couldn't say anything; the Hoppip tagged along. She drifted slowly to the back of the three of us.

"Right, so it's my turn today. Guess we're gonna head for my first victim."

Crimson got into his weird ready-to-start-spamming-questions stance.

"Where is it?"  
>"You haven't heard of it before."<p>

"What's the place like?"  
>"Let's…go there first, kay?"<br>"Is there good stuff to nom there?"

I ignored him.

So I led the gang through some weird terrain, and blah blah blah. The place was about four kliks away or so. No need to describe the walking process, skipskipskip.

We finally got to the entrance of an interestingly mystifying forest. At this point, a silhouette of a four-legged appeared on the horizon. I immediately recognized her.

"Hey! 16!"

The gang looked at me.  
>"Wait, 16?"<br>"You'll understand soon enough."

The shadow dissiated into a Leafeon.  
>"Oh My Arceus! It's you! Heard so much stuff about you!"<br>"Yep! It's me."  
>"You're back!"<p>

She came over and hugged me. Aww.

"Hey, just wondering…how's things around here?"

The Leafeon backed off a little.

"It's fine…Number 1 is…well…"  
>"Muk! Why me?"<br>"Chill…"

I looked at Luxray, and he gave me a sheepish smile. Well, he got a simple mission where he could have chosen to do nothing, and I got a mission where I probably had to fix someone completely. And I probably didn't have to fight.

"94, let me show you…"  
>Number 16 led us in.<p>

It led us into a beautiful place. There were a hundred or so Eevees and a hundred or so of Eeveelutions.

"Hey, I've gotta go tell the leader that you've arrived. Just…wait a while, kay?"  
>"Sure."<p>

Number 16 went off in a random direction.

"Whoa! I like this place! Now time to find stuff to eat…"  
>"Yeah, fireman. I know right."<p>

Hoppip and Frenzy were calculating something secretly at the back from the start; I could sense it. But Hoppip came up to me; I could see that Frenzy didn't really want her to, he was calling out for Hoppip to come back.

"Hey, you called that girl 16…is that her age or what?" Hoppip asked.

I smiled.  
>"Not really. In fact, 16 isn't even her real name."<br>"Huh?"  
>"Kay, here's how it goes."<p>

I turned to the gang.  
>"In this village, every Eevee needs to be given a different name. And considering how about a hundred Eevees are born every ten years, that's a lot of names for the leader to give."<br>"Gottat."  
>"So every Eevee is named after an element. Like Number 16 was actually named…"<p>

I whipped out the Periodic Table that I ripped off my book, and started looking for 16.

"Oxygen! …wait, that's not righ-"  
>"It's Sulfur."<p>

I looked at Frenzy.  
>"Oh yeah. Sorry for dropping out of school."<p>

Frenzy did more calculations.  
>"Wait, that's why she called you 94 just now! That's your true name, right? Plutonium is 94!"<p>

I did another check.  
>"No, Plutonium is 239…argh, screw this stuff."<br>"Actually, they state 239 there, but-"  
>"Shut up! I'm lost already kay?"<p>

Number 16 came back.  
>"Right, you can proceed now!"<br>"Thanks."

The four of us walked towards the king's chamber. And I couldn't help but realize how there were new Eevees in the block playing around the pond. So I went up to them.

"Hey, peeps."

The all looked at me, and their eyes all widened.

"Aww man, a Glaceon!"  
>"…That didn't sound too good."<p>

One of the Eevees was a talker. So he stood up.  
>"Glaceon is a rare sight here; because about five years or so ago, the village was terrorized with a Glaceon. Number 94. That's why we made it a tradition to only make 93 Eevees in a breeding year."<br>"…Okkaaayy…"

"In fact, the Ice Rock is collecting dust now! It's almost cordoned off!"  
>"What?"<br>"You're a brave soul to choose Glaceon. In fact, right now, Espeon's better than Glaceon no matter what."

I paused there for a while. Frenzy then stood up.  
>"Have you caught up with the news?"<br>"Yeah! Sure! Heard that 94's coming back! I'm gonna whack her when it happens!"  
>"Yeah, she's already came back."<p>

I facepawed.  
>"Thanks. Really. Thanks."<p>

The Eevees stared at me.  
>"What? Then you're…"<p>

They immediately charged up either the Shadow Balls or the Bites.

"Please…I don't wanna fight…"

The Eevees all launched their attacks. But I was prepared to take in all of it. Even though I was pretty hurt from the life Orb recoil from this morning, I guess I'd Wish it off sometime later.

They came closer.  
>Now would be a good time to Wish.<p>

"Wis-"  
>"Substitute!"<p>

Hoppip stood right in front of me, like a royal knight, and she created a decoy of herself. It took in all of the attacks, and still didn't break.

"What?"  
>The Eevees were pretty shocked with Hoppip's power.<p>

"Leech Seed!"

Hoppip flung a flurry of Leech Seeds and they all latched onto the Eevees. They were pushed to the ground, and it drained their energy.

"Hoppip…"  
>"HEY LISTEN UP! ETHY HERE'S NICE ALREADY! LET HER BE!"<p>

The three f us stared at Hoppip. The Eevees stared at Hoppip. Then the talker made a pretty nasty comment.

"You're a faggot."  
>"I'm a faggot? Actually I like that name."<p>

Hoppip turned to us.  
>"Hey! I'm called Faggot from now! No buts or ifs! I'm a f-"<br>"Please free the poor souls…"

"Oh yeah!"

Hoppip released the Leech Seeds.

"All yours."  
>"Thanks."<p>

I went up to the Eevees, who were mostly recovering from the attack.

"Hey…I'm sorry for five years ago, kay?"  
>"Sure."<p>

"But what happened to Number 1?"  
>"Aww, don't ask…"<p>

That's bad.

We walked to the king's chamber. The door was wide open.  
>And I stepped in to see a Flareon. Holy crap no.<p>

"Hydrogen…why?"

The Flareon solemnly looked at me.  
>"You happy now?"<p>

"What were you thinking? You're kidding me?"  
>"Look. You tortured me once you evolved. I was still an Eevee. What does that tell you?"<p>

I didn't get it. Thankfully, Hoppip got it.

"He's saying that you tortured him with ice when you evolved…so of course he's afraid of ice…"  
>"Oh. Got that now. Thanks, Hoppip."<p>

She suddenly turned angry-ish.  
>"FAGGOT. IT'S FAGGOT."<br>"…Thanks, Faggot."

I looked at Hydrogen.  
>"But…your…stats were perfect…You were perfect Vaporeon cream of the crop! Wh-"<p>

Nope, he was vulnerable. I wasn't going to criticize him anymore.  
>"Gawsh…this is all my fault."<p>

I went closer. Hydrogen slinked further away from me.  
>"No! Stay back!"<br>"…You're really afraid of ice…I can feel it."  
>"Get off!"<p>

I had to move backwards. The Flareon stared at me.  
>"Is there anything I can do?"<br>"No. There is nothing you can do."  
>"Then…"<br>"But there's something I can do."

I looked at the party members.  
>"Can you guys stay out of this?"<br>"Sure."

"If it makes me happy, I'll annihilate you right here, right now!"

I didn't get into any sort of fighting stance.  
>"Take it out on me."<br>"Fire Blast!"

Hydrogen shot a (horribly weak) Fire Blast at me, and apparently that was supposed to take me out in…three hits? But I'm not a normal Glaceon, so it doesn't work that way.

"What?"  
>"You remember…use Superpower."<br>"Why are you telling me what to do? Superpower!"

Hydrogen cloaked his front two paws with energy, and he raced forward. I could clearly see that Frenzy was going to laugh at the sheer weakness of that.

The Superpower landed a clean hit on me, and Hydrogen was bounced off by my pretty good defense.

"That's…not possible!"

"Alright! That's the last straw broken! I've lost my patience! Sleep Powder!"  
>"Hopp-"<br>"FAGGOT!"  
>"Faggot, don't…argh, what's the point now?"<p>

"Substitute Leech Seed Substitute Leech Seed!"

Thirty seconds later…

Hydrogen stood defeated on the floor, and the last bit of energy in him was about to be taken away from him.

"Faggot…"  
>"No problem!"<br>"Argh, never mind."

I walked to Hydrogen.  
>"Are you okay?"<br>"I'm…useless…"

Right, no more Miss Nice Gal.

"Hey, get up! I'm supposed to be the one that breaks down half the time okay? Not you! Get up!"

Hydrogen looked at me.  
>"You haven't changed, Plutonium."<br>"My name is Ethereal."  
>"You don't deserve that name…why try helping others when you can't handle them?"<p>

I was dumdfounded.

Faggot got angry.  
>"Hey! Don't say that to my –"<br>"He's right."  
>"No! Come on Ethy, you're much stronger than this!"<br>"Maybe not."

I went over to Hydrogen and lay down beside him.  
>"You're right…"<br>"What?"  
>"But hey, I'm trying to be."<br>"You don't know what it takes to be."  
>"Nope, I don't."<p>

Hydrogen made a little smile.  
>"Ether is a cure. Ethereal is derived from ether. Are you a cure?"<br>"A cure to the ailments that I caused myself."

Hydrogen laughed.  
>"Interesting…"<br>"Hey! You laughed!"

Suddenly, the door flung wide open.  
>"Hydrogen! Time for yo- whoawhoawhoa! I didn't see anything!"<p>

The door slammed shut again.  
>"Ignore her. Sulfur's always thinking the wrong way."<br>"So where are we going now?"  
>"Well, I've got to go to the school hall. Gotta do this once every week."<br>"School hall? To do what?"  
>"Update the Eevees."<br>"Oh."

I signaled to the team. They were pretty much waiting for this moment. Crimson had to be woken up by Faggot.

"Wha…? Oh we're fighting now? Let's do it!"

"Too late; I'm sorry."  
>"Great."<br>"And better news; right now we've gotta follow Hydrogen to the school hall. Yay."

The gang sighed. So did I.

So we followed Hydrogen to the school hall, and he was actually pretty happy. I started having hunches that…never mind.

At the school, Hydrogen got up to the stage. He stood on the speech podium.  
>"Hey, morning!"<p>

The little crowd of Eevees responded.

"Right, so if you've been paying attention to the history classes, you'd know that we were once raided by one of our kind."

At the backstage, I kinda heard that loud and clear.  
>But that wasn't the focus now.<p>

"Hey guys, do you actually see how Hydrogen's a little more happy suddenly?"

Frenzy nodded.  
>"Yeah…that's true."<p>

And the next sentence woke me up.  
>"She's back today and gonna give us a little talk thing! Let's welcome her!"<p>

"What? I never asked for thi- aww well. Guess that that's part of the hero business."

Hydrogen came over to me and patted my back.

"Go."  
>"I hate you."<br>"Too bad."

I walked up the stage, and suddenly there was total silence.

"Erm…hey! How's everyone doing?"

Silence.

"So…I'm supposed to be called…erm…Plutonium. Check your tables, I'm number…94. Somewhere. Somewhere on the seventh row! Yeah! …wait, lemme check that…heck, is there even a seventh row?"

I heard the sound of facepalms somewhere at the back.  
>"Erm…I…came today to talk about…um…stuff. Yeah! Stuff! I guess. Gawsh, this better work out…"<p>

I was like…sweating. The reason why I attacked Hydrogen was because he always taught me too much and was a total nerd. So there. Guess that I shouldn't have done that and actually focused a little more in my studies.

"So…if you check your textbooks…erm…hey, the Eevee at the front, can you lend me your textbook?"

Suddenly, a crashing sound was heard.

Insert. Epic. Onomatopoeia. Here.

I looked towards the sound and saw a Jirachi. Sved by it. Thank Arceus.

"I heard Plutonium's coming back."  
>"Aww…muk."<br>"Heya Plutonium!"  
>"Ethereal."<br>"Whatever. I'm here to destroy you and your gang, because someone wished it, so I can't break my own…stupid rules. So let's do this!"

The gang was like really happy.  
>"AWW YEAH! LET'S FINALLY FIGHT!"<p>

I stepped up.  
>"Hey…I don't wanna fight. I'm a nice gal now. Can't you-"<br>"Iron Head!"

Jirachi slammed me in the middle with a really solid Iron Head. I was smashed to the side.

"ARGH! WHAT THE-?"

Hydrogen looked at the Jirachi.  
>"Can I undo my wish?"<br>"NO! That's against my stupid rules!"

He closed his eyes, and reopened then to create a dazzly effect.  
>"Pleeaasseee…"<br>"NO!"

All the Eevees started running.

I looked at the Jirachi. This was going to be a tough one. We had to fight her because of her…stupid rules. But still, it was a fight that we were going to fight. Now.


End file.
